The university regularly supports interdisciplinary research projects with up to five million crowns. Starting this autumn, applicants can receive a further half a million crowns if the project implementation team includes a researcher who is returning from parental leave.
Masaryk University will be one of the first in the Czech Republic to provide financial support to help female researchers returning to work. The Grant Agency of Masaryk University can now allocate more funds to internal interdisciplinary research projects if one of the key project participants is currently on or returning from parental leave. The university will boost the financing for these projects by half a million crowns.
“We would like to increase the number of women in research. Many women leave research after finishing their PhD studies, often due to parental leave, where they lose touch with the latest developments and the top researchers in their field. We would like to help mothers to return and start their own independent research career,” says MU Rector Mikuláš Bek.
The university regularly supports interdisciplinary research projects with up to five million crowns for three years. Starting this autumn, applicants can receive a further half a million crowns if the project implementation team includes a researcher who is returning from parental leave. The researcher must have a key position in the project, with at least a half-time contract for the whole duration of the project. Roman Badík, the head of the MU Research & Development Office, adds: “Her position in the project must be such that she will be able to start her independent research career before or as soon as the project is completed.”
Researchers can start applying for interdisciplinary project funding this September. Successful applicants will receive funding from the Grant Agency of Masaryk University for 2019 through to 2021. The university usually selects four or five projects to support each year.